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During his early career, Danny Chan Kwok Kwan, actor and Jeet Kune Do practitioner portrayed Bruce Lee in the 50-episode TV series “The Legend of Bruce Lee” (2008) due to his resemblance to him. After his portrayal of the Bruce Lee look-alike goalkeeper in Stephen Chow's “Shaolin Soccer” he became more popular which led him to further playing Lee in the “Ip Man” film series. However, in “Desperado” or “Thug in a Suit” as translated from its Chinese title, he finally has the chance to shine as a leading man.

Set in Taicheng, a made up city somewhere in Southeast Asia, most likely Thailand or Cambodia, this online iQIYI film kicks off with a great action set piece in which the thug in a suit, Zhao Ke, comes to a butchery warehouse alone to rescue his sworn brother Barno. The warehouse is actually a front for drug smuggling and a trap to lure him in.

Yin Chen-Hao’s Call Of Lobster and Gao Linyang’s Dying Fire were presented with the inaugural Hcg Awards, a joint initiative of Hkiff Industry and CAA China, as the Hong Kong projects market wrapped with 21 cash and in-kind prizes worth more than US$223,000.

The objective of Hcg [Hkiff Industry – CAA China Genre Initiative], according to CAA China CEO Mary Gu, is to provide the next generation of filmmakers in the region with a network of support to help them launch their careers, both locally and in the international marketplace.

Two animation projects were the big winners in the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf). The Excreman – On The Road, from McDull creator and veteran animator Brian Tse, won the Idp Award for Hong Kong projects, while Indian animation feature Heirloom, from Upamanyu Bhattacharyya, won the Wip Award as a non-Hong Kong project.

“Both projects demonstrate lively reimaginings of local tales and a strong connection to their domestic social landscapes,...

Taking place alongside Filmart, the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) is one of Asia’s oldest and most established project markets, helping a string of award-winning films to get made.

Recent Haf successes include Mongolian drama If Only I Could Hibernate, which was selected for last year’s Cannes Un Certain Regard, and Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka’s Stonewalling, which won best film at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards and was sold to KimStim for North America.

However, Haf is now just one component in an expanding range of activities organised by Hkiff Industry, the industry platform of Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff). This year, the festival has partnered with CAA China to launch the Hkiff Industry-caa China Genre Initiative (Hcg), which is presenting six selected projects to an industry-wide audience during Haf.

Hkiff Industry director Jacob Wong explains that a genre initiative is a logical next...

Five Chinese-language genre projects to be selected.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (Hkiff Society) has partnered with talent agency CAA China on an initiative to support the growth and development of Chinese-language genre projects.

The Hkiff Industry-caa China Genre Initiative (Hcg) will select five Chinese-language genre projects, which will be presented as a parallel section to next year’s Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) and scheduled to run together from March 11-13, 2024 during the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart).

Two of the selected Hcg projects will each be awarded a cash prize of $20,000 sponsored by...

CAA China has teamed up with the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society to unveil a joint initiative that will foster Chinese-language genre film projects.

The Hgc initiative will operate an open call for projects from Monday until the end of October. Five successful projects will be selected and presented at next year’s FilMart rights market and Haf project matching event.

As part of the program, “CAA China will fund $20,000 cash awards to each of two handpicked projects to support their development, with customized guidance from mentors.” CAA China may also choose to board the winning projects later by entering into script development agreements.

“We are witnessing the rise of a new generation of Chinese filmmakers who are the backbone of Chinese cinema,” said Mary Gu, CEO of CAA China. “By collaborating with Hkiff Society, our aim is to discover and support young filmmakers with industry awareness and mainstream expression.

Lou Ye’s Blind Massage was the big winner at this year’s Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, scooping six prizes including best film and best new performer for Zhang Lei.Scroll down for full list of winners

The mainland China production also won best adapted screenplay (Ma Yingli), best cinematography (Zeng Jian), best film editing (Kong Jinlei, Jolin Zhu) and best sound effects (Fu Kang).

Ann Hui won best director for historical biopic The Golden Era, while best original screenplay went to Yee Chih-yen for Meeting Dr Sun.

Chen Jianbin won best new director and best actor for A Fool, along with best supporting actor for Paradise In Service, which also took the best supporting actress prize for Regina Wan’s performance. Chen Hsiang-chi took best actress for Exit.

Fruit Chan’s The Midnight After won best visual effects and Liu Qiang was awarded best art direction for Black Coal, Thin Ice. Brotherhood...